Product Library / Water Protection & Plumbing
Research profile · last verified 2026-07-29Flume 2 Smart Home Water Monitor
Compatibility
| Ecosystem | Support | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Alexa | PartialPartial support — see the catch | Partial for a specific and important reason, stated by Flume itself: 'Alexa utilizes "response only" skills, meaning Alexa will be unable to notify you of a leak or other notifications.' So Alexa can answer questions — 'Alexa, ask Flume if my water is on', 'Alexa, ask Flume how much water I used today' — but cannot tell you a pipe has burst, which is the one thing a water monitor exists to announce. Leak alerts arrive by push notification and email from the Flume app instead. Setup is the Flume skill plus your Flume username and password; Flume says it takes under 30 seconds. |
| Google Home | PartialPartial support — see the catch | Flume's integrations article confirms a Google Assistant integration exists, but documents no capability detail for it — and notably does not claim it overcomes the notification limit that Flume spells out for Alexa. Recorded partial on that basis: query-style voice access is documented at the platform level, proactive leak announcements are not documented for either assistant, and Flume publishes no per-command list for Google as it does for Alexa. |
| Apple Home | Doesn't workVerified: does not work with this ecosystem | An explicit vendor negative, which is rarer and much better than an absence: Flume's own integrations article states 'Flume does not integrate with Apple HomeKit at this time.' Nothing to infer and nothing to work around — there is no HomeKit bridge, and the device carries no Matter certification. |
| SmartThings | Doesn't workVerified: does not work with this ecosystem | Also stated outright by Flume: 'Flume does not integrate with SmartThings at this time.' Same standing as the HomeKit answer — a documented no, not an unverified blank. |
| Home Assistant | WorksWorks with this ecosystem | The one platform that gets the whole picture, and the only route by which a leak can trigger something in a smart home rather than just a phone. Home Assistant's core Flume integration (introduced in 0.103, ~1,527 active installations) exposes water-usage sensors plus binary sensors for 'Bridge disconnected', 'High flow', 'Leak detected' and 'Low battery', and polls notifications every five minutes. Two caveats: its IoT class is 'Cloud Polling', so it depends on Flume's cloud exactly as the app does — nothing here is local — and setup needs a Client ID and Client Secret, which Flume issues 'under "API Access" on the settings page' of its customer portal. Note the pricing interaction: Flume lists plain 'API access' among the no-subscription core features and 'Personal API access' among Flume Insight's additions, so confirm which tier your credentials come from before planning around this. |
Protocols: WIFI · PROPRIETARY-RF-915MHZ
Subscription reality
◐ Works without a subscription: Yes, but material features need a plan.
- Free: Real-time, minute-by-minute water usage insights, Advanced leak detection with smart leak alerts, Monthly water budgets, Customizable usage alerts, Water-use breakdowns by individual appliances, API access
- Behind a plan: Daily and weekly budgets, not just monthly, Custom leak-alert rules, Shared access for family, gardeners or plumbers, Personal API access, On-demand chat support for plumbing questions
Recorded `optional_but_material` rather than `none`, and the distinction is the honest one: leak detection — the reason most people buy this — works with no plan at all. Flume's own wording is 'Customers who purchase a Flume device directly from Amazon or flumewater.com enjoy no monthly fees' with full access to the core features listed above, including 'Advanced leak detection'. What Flume Insight adds is real but incremental: finer budget periods, custom alert rules, shared access and chat support. THE ONE CATCH THAT ISN'T ABOUT MONEY: Flume says customers who receive a device 'through a partner program' — a utility or insurer giveaway — may find that 'features and fees may vary'. So the same hardware can arrive with a different feature set depending on who gave it to you, which is a fact no spec sheet would ever show.
Maintenance reality
- Batteries: 4 Lithium Metal AA batteries (sensor only; the Bridge is mains-powered)
- Cloud dependence: Yes — a server shutdown would degrade or brick this device
- Two pieces, and both matter for placement. The SENSOR straps to the outside of your existing water meter — no plumbing work, no pipe cutting, no shutoff — and reads the meter's magnetic field; Flume claims self-installation 'in under 10 minutes' and compatibility with '95% of Homes', with a meter-compatibility checker on its site. It is IP67 rated for 2-foot immersion (meter pits flood), operates outdoors, and measures 2.45 × 3.425 × 5.7 in. The BRIDGE plugs into an indoor outlet (USB power supply, 100–240 VAC), measures 1.88 × 4.36 × 2.3 in, and joins 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi; its operating range is 32 °F to 158 °F. Sensor-to-Bridge link is 915 MHz RF with a stated reach of up to 1,000 ft, which is why a detached meter at the street is usually still workable. Resolution is to one-hundredth of a gallon, with real-time gallons-per-minute, indoor-versus-outdoor split, and per-fixture attribution (toilets, showers, dishwashers, softeners, sprinklers). Battery life is not published in the specification article and is left null rather than estimated. Beyond the five hub ecosystems, Flume documents integrations with Rain Bird and Orbit B-hyve irrigation controllers, a YoLink shutoff valve, and an open API; it states explicitly that it does NOT integrate with Rachio.
The catch
It watches the water and tells you; it cannot stop it. There is no valve, so a burst pipe at 3am produces an alert, not an intervention — pair it with a shutoff valve (Flume documents a YoLink valve integration) if stopping the water matters. The bigger surprise is where the alerts can and cannot go: Flume says its Alexa skill is 'response only', so Alexa can be asked about usage but cannot announce a leak, and Flume states outright that it does not integrate with Apple HomeKit or SmartThings 'at this time'. Home Assistant is the only ecosystem that receives leak, high-flow and bridge-disconnected signals as usable triggers. Everything runs through Flume's cloud — sensor to Bridge over 915 MHz RF, Bridge to cloud over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi — so there is no local mode and no offline alerting. Installation is genuinely easy because nothing is plumbed, but it depends on your meter: Flume claims 95% of homes and provides a compatibility checker, which is worth using before buying rather than after. And one pricing subtlety that is easy to miss: leak detection needs no plan, but a device given away by a utility or insurer may arrive with different features and fees than one bought direct.
Who it's for
A fit for a household that wants to see and understand its water — real-time flow, per-fixture attribution, indoor versus outdoor split — and to be warned about leaks, without touching plumbing or hiring anyone. Renters can install it if they have access to the meter, and it suits homes where the meter sits in a pit at the street, since the sensor is IP67 and reaches the Bridge over 915 MHz. It fits Home Assistant households especially well, because that is the one platform that can act on a leak signal. Look elsewhere if you need the water actually shut off, if you want Apple Home or SmartThings, if you need alerts that work without internet, or if your meter is one of the incompatible minority — check Flume's meter tool first. Alexa and Google users should know they get a voice assistant that can answer questions about water but not raise the alarm.
Sources & method
help.flumewater.com/en/articles/2159429-flume-product-specifications (first-party help-centre specification article), read 2026-07-29 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-29 · flumewater.com/product/ (first-party product page), read 2026-07-29 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-29 · help.flumewater.com/en/articles/2524512-are-there-any-monthly-fees (first-party help-centre article), read 2026-07-29 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-29 · help.flumewater.com/en/articles/5681103-flume-integrations (first-party help-centre article), read 2026-07-29 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-29 · help.flumewater.com/en/articles/3149123-does-flume-work-with-amazon-alexa (first-party help-centre article), read 2026-07-29 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-29 · home-assistant.io/integrations/flume (Home Assistant core integration documentation), read 2026-07-29 — ecosystem-page research, verified 2026-07-29. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →
Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.